A Natural Wonder of Passion
Southern California has more than two-thirds of California's thirty million plus occupants, and Los Angeles is its largest metropolitan area. Los Angeles is a large sprawling urban area. L.A. is next to the beach, the mountains, the desert -- and any style of living is possible. Entertainment is unlimited with the city's offerings of everything that could be asked for and its attractions range from huge recreational urban neighborhood parks to Theme Parks, museums, universities and the zoo. L.A. has everything -- cathedrals, the first freeway system, Angel's Slide and of course freeway and street shootings mixed with the occasional city riots and sports events.
Many have found the entrance, but few people know much beyond that. The entrance is that area a little over 20 miles from downtown, in the Angeles National Park, that provides pristine wilderness. Most who find it are just out for a drive and seldom venture more than two miles from where they park. It's that two miles that is covered with graffiti where paint and scratchings mark everything. It seems a pastime of many to cover rocks with their own name, their boy or girl friend's name, their gang's markings, or just frivolity. It is this area that is smeared with the detritus from places of fast food and vomit to society's used condoms, discarded panties and their matching bra's.
But, if you venture further, an easy day's walk... well, it's more like an easy day's hike because you find yourself at chores like wading the river, climbing the mountain and boulder-hopping. But, back about five miles from the nearest parking spot is where it starts. Wild animals like deer and mountain goat, rattlesnake, coyote, skunk, rabbit, possum, and raccoon are abundant. And fresh running water in the springtime -- lots of it fills the river. After a storm it's not unusual to find white water of the river filling the gorge, running with speed and force enough to rip out trees and lift twenty foot boulders. During or after a storm is not the time to visit. A storm twenty miles distant can fill the canyon in moments.
There are at least three ways to get there. Down from the Angeles Crest highway, if you can find a place to park, up over the mountain or up the river wading because it cuts through shear rock walls that line its edge. My first time back I had taken the easy route. It was up the cascades of the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. I wasn't sure what I'd find, but was fascinated by the beauty. I'd taken off on my own... a very foolish thing to do in retrospect. I was back perhaps eight miles and had only recently left the river, removed my wet athletic shoes, tied them together and draped them over my backpack. As I came over a small rise I spotted a wide, plush green meadow still cool from the spring storms. The grass was the deepest green and knee deep. A creek of ice-cold snowmelt ran through it, and in the center was the clearest, deepest pool of fresh water. In distant history the pool was somehow hollowed out of the sun warmed rock.
I was mesmerized at its beauty and wanted nothing more than to enter it nude and submerge myself in its freshness. I wanted to drink of its sweet water and sun myself on the surrounding rock. There was no one around for miles and the serenity was a balm to me.